Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 15,000'
Good morning all,
After enjoying a relaxing day at Casa Ilayaku the team is ready to get back to business and start walking uphill. A two hour drive brought us to the basecamp for Antisana. A quick duffle shuffle and gear sort gets us psyched and ready for our early departure, hopefully to the top this time. It's early to bed to rest the eyes and body. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates this time.
Happy belated Valentines Day to all our loved ones,
RMI Guides Avery, Hannah, and Team
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Lauren Macklin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 17,340'
Feliz Día de San Valentin :)
We are now settled in at high camp on Ixta after a day of good Mexican eating and a four hour hike with heavy packs.
Everyone is in good spirits as we enjoy another nice sunset and prepare for our first big summit attempt of the trip.
Posted by: Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
Today was a double activity day for some. Three of us started the day with a morning kayak tour in Lago Grey. Despite the winds up high the conditions on the lake were great. We were able to kayak up and get a look at the Grey Glacier from the water. We’ve now seen the glacier from above on the trail, from the surface during yesterday’s glacier walk and from the water!
We all took the walk from Refugio Grey to Refugio Paine Grande. The rain chased us but didn’t catch us. It was very windy up high but otherwise a dry and nice walk. This was one of the shorter days and a good way to get back into the groove after the long day over the pass and the recovery day. After arriving at Paine Grande a variety of treats were enjoyed at the bar while looking out over the lake.
RMI Team Member Mark Nelson
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 17,000'
We awoke at 11pm at the Cayambe hut to get an alpine start on our climb. Unfortunately, when we took a look outside we encountered sideways rain. We continued to monitor the weather throughout the night with hopes of getting a late start on the climb. Finally, around 5 am the wind and rain subsided enough for us to get out of the hut and do some climbing. By that time our we could not reasonably make it to the summit and back. We climbed up to 17,000 feet and did some training in the morning sun. That was a new high point for most of the team! Resting today in a beautiful hacienda outside Quito. Here we’ll learn crevasse rescue and set out sites on the next volcano, Antisana.
Today we had a welcomed slower day. We took a motorboat out to Grey’s Glacier and put on helmets and crampons for a couple of hours of glacier hiking. The glacier is part of Patagonia’s ice field, the third largest in the world. We saw bright blue ice caves, deep pools, a glacial waterfall, and streams of clear water.
Midway through our hike the guides served hot tea of ginger, cinnamon, and honey, plus chocolate bars. What a treat-to hold a cup of steaming tea and gaze out at the magnificent view of water, ice, and mountain.
Particularly satisfying was to look up at the John Gardner pass that we traversed yesterday. When we saw one of the three bridges we crossed, one member of our group commented, “Wow, it didn’t seem that high when I was on it.” It’s astounding to see yesterday’s hike from a completely different viewpoint and to stand in the midst of yesterday’s.
RMI Climber Melissa Earley
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Lauren Macklin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 10,000'
Today we are headed to Ixtaccihuatl via a several hour bus ride from the La Malintzi resort. It was a restful evening feasting on a parrillada and watching the Superbowl on a Spanish telecast. A well-deserved restful evening after successfully summitting La Malinche, which is hit or miss and dependent on how much argument (in Spanish) you’re willing to engage in with a heavily armed police officer. This time they left us alone, perhaps because it was such a nice day with no threat of lightning or rain.
Now we are in transit to Amecameca for some last-minute supplies. Today is mostly a travel and organization day, not quite a real rest day yet. We will update via InReach from the mountain so you can follow our progress!
perfect weather and summit dogs?! what a great start!! congrats Anne and Lauren (and the rest of the crew!) wishing you more successful summits both this trip AND alaska when we get there! :)
cheers, Corey
Posted by: Corey on 2/14/2023 at 6:09 am
Posted by: Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
We had an early start after a windy night to begin our 9 hour day over John Gardner pass at 3,900'. The trail winds through a muddy forest for a few hours before getting into the alpine zone. There was fresh snow on the peaks surrounding us and lots of wind to motivate the group to take shorter breaks and keep moving to stay warm.
We got into the pass with some nice views of the Grey glacier, one of the longer arms of the Southern Patagonian ice field. Once back into the trees to begin our descent the trail gets less than ideal from a knee and feet standpoint. The trail is steep and has large steps that make a measured and rhythmic stride all but impossible. It's just part of the trek, but not the best part of the trek.
We are all in camp, some have gone for showers and some have gone for drinks. We all are looking forward to a good night and day off tomorrow.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
Good evening readers,
What is a great way to wake up you ask? Waking up to fresh mountain air and then you walk down a colorful spiral staircase to hot coffee that you sip on a porch looking out on the lush green hills towering all around you as birds tweet in the trees. They say mountain climbing is type 2 fun (fun once your done) but so far we are experiencing type 1 fun (fun as you do it). After our casual morning we loaded the bus to the Otavalo Market. Here is where you buy all the souvenirs for your loved ones back home, plus some for yourself. The big ticket items are blankets, art work, and chocolate. After all that bartering we had worked up an appetite and made our way to a lovely sandwich shop before ending at our final destination, a beautiful hostel at the base of Cayambe. We spent our afternoon learning knots, hitches, and Earnest anchors. These are our building blocks for further skills/training later. Tomorrow we head up to the Climbers Hut where we will continue our training and prepare for our early start Monday to, fingers crossed, the summit of Cayambe. Monday is not our only early start because the alarm clock goes off at 4am tomorrow. So it's early to bed for us as we rest up for many big days to come.
Buenos noches,
RMI Guides Avery, Hannah, and Team
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Friday, February 10, 2023 - 3:10 pm PT
Woke up today, packed up and headed out of Quito to start our travels throughout Ecuador's highlands. Our first stop is the town of Otavalo. To continue acclimatizing we drove up steep cobblestone roads to a peak Fuya fuya. We parked at a beautiful crater lake with the peak in the clouds above. Rain threatened throughout the day, but after reaching the summit we returned to the bus without a drop. Looking forward to heading towards Cayambe tomorrow!
RMI Guide Avery Parrinello
Posted by: Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Torres del Paine
After a cloudy & rainy evening at Lago Dickson we began our hike to Perros with some blue sky and nice views of the glaciers that fill the valleys. Our hike took us deeper into the forest that fills the valley due to more rainfall coming over the pass we will ascend tomorrow morning. The team enjoyed views of the Perros glacier and lake before getting to camp. We'll have an early start tomorrow for our longest day over John Gardner Pass.
RMI Guide Mike King
-640x480.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
Kayaking to the glacier looks AMAZING! Great photo. xoxo Joan
Posted by: Joan Nelson on 2/14/2023 at 3:11 pm
View All Comments